SDCC ’17: There Will Be Skrulls In CAPTAIN MARVEL

Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel film has not yet begun production, but we already know one of the things the superheroine will be facing off against – the shapeshifting aliens known as the Skrulls.

The news is coming directly out of Marcel’s San Diego Comic Con presentation given this evening.

It is also being reported that the film will be set int he 1990s. Since it’s release is set between the two big Avengers films – next May’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s as yet untitled Avengers 4 – this does raise questions as to whether the character will be appearing in those two films as was previously supposed.

The aliens first appeared in Fantastic Four #2 and have been a mainstay baddie in the Marvel Universe ever since. In addition to their occasional harassment of Earth’s superheros, the Skrull have been locked in a centuries-long war with another alien race, the Kree. The Kree-Skrull War and the Kree in particular factor heavily into Captain Marvel’s origins. So there use in the film does not come as a complete surprise.

Given the fact that they have appeared in numerous different comic book series over the years, the film rights to the aliens have been a bit complicated. Reportedly both Marvel and Fox, through their Fantastic Four rights package, are able to use them in their films. Presumably there is some contractual verbiage that requires one party to notify the other oft heir intended use. I would not be surprised if there was also a clause that would keep both studios from using them within a certain time frame.

Captain Marvel is set to hit theaters on March 8, 2019 and will star Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are directing.

A film fan since he first saw that Rebel Blockade Runner fleeing the massive Imperial Star Destroyer at the tender age of 8 and a veteran freelance journalist with twenty years experience writing about film and pop culture.